Category: Mariah Montoya

Posted in Book Review, Grace Pearce, Mariah Montoya

Discover Veradel: The Intense Sequel to Xantera

Posted on by Letty Reads

Veradel by Mariah Montoya and Grace Pearce

18+ Contains Adult Content

Verde is book 2 in the Guardians and Monsters Duology, Xantera, which I read last month (review here), is book one. Veradel follows straight on from where we left off in Xantera. Now I know Xantera hasn’t been out long, so I will do my best to not spoil that book with what I tell you about this one, but there will be some spoilers. This duology is a vampire, werewolf dystopian duology. Where 12 vampires rule the “utopian” Xantera, while its rightful King is known as the monster beyond the wall. Saskia has been speaking mind to mind with the “monster” and learning the truth about Xantera and its guardians. When Saskia falls from the top of the wall, she comes face to face with the so called monster Lucan. Together, they fight to save Xantera.

This is a woman I would have devoured in a completely different way, if I’d had the chance.

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Posted in Book Review, Grace Pearce, Mariah Montoya

Breaking the Cardinal Rules: A Review of Xantera by Mariah Montoya and Grace Pearce

Posted on by Letty Reads

Xantera by Mariah Montoya and Grace Pearce

Releases 13th October 2025

Xantera follows 23-year-old Saskia, who lives in a utopian society ruled by 12 guardians. Saskia has always been taught to never question the rules and to fear the monster who prowls outside the wall, which is there to protect them. She eats what she is told, she works where she is told, and she is even in a relationship with whom she is told. They control every aspect of the citizens’ lives. Saskia is a healer, and when one of her patients is acting shifty and then disappears, Saskia does what no one in Xantera should do: she starts thinking and asking questions. When she sees her patient again, he is being escorted by the sentries, but she notices as he throws a necklace to the side of the road. Saskia is curious and picks this up; she doesn’t know what it is and is utterly shocked when a voice speaks to her in her head. The voice is that of the monster outside the wall, the one she should fear, and he wants her to let him in.

What do I want from you, little nightmare?
I want you to let me in

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Posted in Book Review, Mariah Montoya

Enemies to Lovers: Finding Love in By the Moonbeam and the Mist

Posted on by Letty Reads

By the Moonbeam and the Mist by Mariah Montoya

This is book 2 in the Esholian Institute series. I’m not sure yet how many books will be in this series, but by the end of this book, there is at least one more to come.

By the Moonbeam and the Mist follows on where book one, By the Orchid and the Owl, ended. Coen and the other faeries have fled; they have wiped Rayna’s mind, and she wakes up on the beach with Jagaros, thinking she partied the night before and is drunk/hungover. This book is set in Rayna’s second year at the institute, and because her mind was wiped, she doesn’t remember Coen, she doesn’t remember the truth about who she is. She ends up finding all of this out again. In this book, she is tasked with finding and catching Coen. Coen has changed, though; he is faster than he should be, and he moves with impeccable speed. Rayna plans to capture him, until she realises that a force is destroying the villages and residents in them. A force that is not Coen, if she is to protect her dads and her friends, she must team up with Coen.

I do hope you find him. True love is such a rare thing to observe from these depths

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Posted in Book Review, Mariah Montoya

Rayna’s Journey: Secrets and Magic in By the Orchid and the Owl

Posted on by Letty Reads

By the Orchid and the Owl by Mariah Montoya

By the Orchid and the Owl is a fantasy book. It follows Rayna Drey, who is 18 years old. Once you turn 18, you are sent to the institute to be branded with faerie magic; you do not know which magic you will get. You then spend the next 5 years at the institute learning to control and harness this magic. The types of sanctioned magic are: the ability to wield elements, summon objects, shift forms, talk to wildlife or manipulate minds. Rayna, on her first night at the institute, the night before the branding drinks some ale laced with bascite (the same stuff that would be branded into her), she explodes with a raw type of power, luckily for Rayne Coen Steeler, a fifth year mind manipulator can teach her to hide it, however Coen is hiding many secrets too. Rayna begins to uncover dark secrets about the Island and its council. If they find out, she and Coen face a fate worse than death.

The magic woven into Eshol is the only thing that keeps us safe from the monsters beyond our shield. We must each bear a thread of that magic to keep our fortifications tight.

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